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I live in Georgia and recently co-signed on a loan for a motorcycle. The person I co-signed with has been missing the paymenys and the loan company is comming to me for the payment, which is expected. When I spoke with a represenative they told me that I am only on the loan not the title, therefore if he does not make the payment I am responsible for making it,but according to the loan company since I am not on the title I cannot be in possession of the motorcycle even if I am making the payment. Is there any way I can get out of th loan or gain possession of the bike? I do not want a repossession on my credit.

Asked on 9/19/13, 2:27 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

This is exactly what you signed up for by co-signing (and there is a reason people need co-signers). If you could get out of it, the contract would be meaningless. You won't have a repo on your credit as your property will not be repo'd - you will have a loan default. Either continue to make payments to protect your credit, or make a deal to purchase the bike from your friend or take over the payments and take the bike. Never, ever co-sign again even if it your mother.

As you have found out, it is ALWAYS a mistake to cosign. The bank sends you a message in asking you to do it and the message is one not to ignore: "We really don't trust him to pay, so we need you." You're stuck. You either have to pay to protect your credit, or get your credit dinged and get sued. And since you're not on the title, you don't get the bike whether you pay or not, unless he gives it to you.

You asked this question before but now have provided more facts. The answer is no. You cannot obtain possession of the vehicle unless the primary borrower conveyed it to you (but then you would have to make other arrangements to pay for the vehicle) or the lender repo'd it and sold it to you. You are not on the title and there is no form that can give you any kind of possessory interest other than as I have noted.

Your remedy would be to pay for the car because you are the co-signer and then sue the primary borrower for reimbursement. However, as I noted in my earlier post, if the primary borrower needed a co-signer, it meant that he or she probably had bad credit in which case suing them may be of little help if they have few assets and if there are judgments ahead of yours which have to be paid first.

Lesson here is NEVER co-sign for anything. Its better that you just make a monetary gift to the borrower rather than co-sign so you will not have this debt reported on your credit as a delinquency if a default occurs. If a repo occurs, it will also be on your credit.